Bonhoeffer’s faith had been chastened by history, its failures and misuses. His was a sober assessment of the gospel’s political captivity—and how to escape it. The Christian witness would be limited to prayer and righteous action. ‘All Christian thinking, talking, and organizing must be born anew, out of that prayer and action.’ Until the time when people will once again be able to speak the word of God ‘with power’ and ‘ultimate honesty,’ the ‘Christian cause will be a quiet and hidden one.’

If we are in a Bonhoeffer Moment, it is a moment that confronts us with a different demand: learning to participate in God’s created order, to trust in God’s promises to bless, linking arms with all those who care about the human condition, asking ourselves how the coming generation shall live. It is learning to struggle along with everyone else, speaking with ‘the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision’ and our chastened ambitions, taking part in shared human struggle, and bearing witness to the peace that passes all understanding.